Towards the beginning of the seventies, in an effort to satisfy continuous demand
of Nikon users who were aiming for a practical optical extender for Nikkor lenses,
Nikon finally unveiled a working version of the TC-1 and TC-2 Teleconverters in 1976
to satisfy those needs. Both of the Extenders are similarly providing 2X magnification
of focal length for the primary lens in place.

In the mean time,
Nikon has already implemented some of their their fruitful research on lens coating
development into production of their lenses. Among the few breakthrough - NIC (Nikon Integrated
Coating) process, a proprietary multi-layer Nikon lens coating method developed
by Nikon with secretive formula applied on each glass-to-air surface of the optical
elements, which is designed to give optimum photographic results to counter internal
reflections and faithful reproduction of colors. Such a significant development has pathed the
way for Nikon lens designers with a possibility to develop a high quality optical
tele-extender that meets the high standards of mechanical and optical quality of
the Nikkor lenses.

However, unlike
those offerings from third party manufacturers, Nikon has resorted to design two
separate Teleconverters for two main groups of Nikkor lenses i.e. a version for lenses
under 200mm focal length and another for telephoto above 300mm focal length as Nikon
designers felt the two groups of lenses have differing optical designs in nature which may demand two
types of Extenders for optimizing results to the fullest. This has resulted into
the birth of TC-1 and TC-2, even if both Extenders offer similarities in their optical
objectives even though their optical composition differs (7 elements in 5 groups
for TC-1 and 5 elements in 5 groups for TC-2).

Two interesting aspects
in the design of TC-1 and TC-2 is, both of these optical 2X Extenders were built with the
old aperture coupling lug atop and they have a separate aperture control scales which
printed in a distinctive red colour that can be adjusted from f/4.0 (TC-1) and f/5.6
(TC-2) to a minimum aperture value stopped-down to amazing f/64 !

Note: Images of BOTH Nikkor TC-1 and TC-2 displayed in this site are
NOT to scale. The TC-2 is a larger in its overall dimension.

Nowadays,
many Nikon collectors would prized the two Converters as collectors' items they are
true rarities due to its short span of product cycle (especially the TC-2). Both
of the devices are considered to be dedicated Teleconverters for non-Ai Nikkor lenses
that work flawlessly without modification onto early Nikon SLRs such as the various
non-Ai Nikon F and some of the early Nikon F2 models (and also the early
Nikkormat models). Eventually, the
two old Nikon 2X Teleconverters have been converted with an AI lens coupling design
and other modification to conform to the new Ai metering system specification a year
later in 1977.

Specification of Teleconverter
TC-1

Optical
Construction: 7 elements in 5 groupsOptical Characteristic: Depth of field: halve that of lens in use

Credit: BOTH Images Nikkor TC-1 displayed here are edited from
an image mailed to me by a unidentified user (returned mail on seeking clarification
of source and originality was bounced). If you are the owner of the original image,
please mail me as appropriate credit should be given for such contribution.

Credit: MCLau®, who has helped to rewrite
some of the content appeared this site. Chuck Hester® who has been helping
me all along with the development of all these Nikon websites;LarsHolst Hansen, 'Hawkeye'
who shares the same passion I have; Ms Rissa, Sales manager
from Nikon Corporation Malaysia for granting permission to use some of the official
content; TedWengelaar,Holland
who
has helped to provide many useful input relating to older Nikkor lenses; Some of the references
on production serial numbers used in this site were extracted from Roland Vink's website; HiuraShinsaku from Nikomat
Club Japan. Lastly,
to all the good people who has contributed their own expeience, resources or kind
enough granted permission to use their images of their respective optic in this site.
It is also a site to remember a long
lost friend
on the Net.Note:certain content and
images appeared in this site were either scanned from official marketing leaflets
& brochures published by Nikon and/or contribution from surfers who claimed originality
of their work for educational purposes. The creator of the site will not be responsible
for may discrepancies arise from such dispute except rectifying them after verification."Nikon", "Nikkormat", "Nippon Kokagu
KK"
& "Nikkor" are registered
tradename of Nikon Corporation Inc., Japan. Site made with an Apple IMac.